RACOMA LIVE AT THE ARTS AT THE ARMORY – SOMERVILLE
By James Marinaccio
Racoma performs at the unique venue Arts at the Armory in Somerville.
Had the chance to see the last stop of Racoma’s most recent tour on a Sunday night in Somerville, MA. The venue of the show was Arts at the Armory. I had never been to this venue before, and it is definitely one of the most unique places I have ever seen a show. The building itself truly used to be an armory. It was built in 1903, and served its original purpose for roughly 70 years.
In the modern day, it is a smallish event venue that has a nostalgic feel. Glenn Haider, the lead vocalist of Racoma even said that he felt like they were performing at a high school prom. This was pretty spot on. The room is roughly the size of a gym, has very high ceilings, hard wood floors, and smells like the inside of a dictionary. But what truly matters most is the sound quality, and Racoma sounded great.
Racoma is a Seattle based indie folk/rock band. Granted I have never been to Seattle, but Racoma’s music definitely sounds like it originated on a rainy day. And tons of people love it. They are racking up streams on Spotify with 576k monthly listeners. Racoma seems to make their way into most of my indie playlists. They have a very calm and at times melancholic sound. Their music has the tendency to grow on me as I keep revisiting songs and albums by them.
Their live performance was very good. They sounded exactly like their studio recordings, which makes sense since they tend to lean into their natural raw sound. For their latest album In Vine, they opted for live to tape versions of the songs. Glenn Haider’s vocals are accompanied perfectly by Spencer Templeman who harmonizes while holding it down on the drums. Sean Collopy adds in with guitar. Collopy goes back and forth from a Telecaster that really stood out at the show. It had an amazingly sharp twang that is possible to miss in their recordings, but not live.
They ended the show with an encore performance of “Country”. Like most Racoma fans, this song initially piqued my interest in the band. If I was to show anyone Racoma, I would first play “Country”. The tune has over 23 million streams on Spotify and is definitely one of their most accessible songs. The nonconformist in me hates to admit it, but I was looking forward to hearing this song the most. It definitely did not disappoint. The room was singing along and the band elevated their energy to match the crowd. The show was a great way to cap off the weekend, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for future Racoma tours.
To learn more about Racoma, check out their Website
Follow on: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Stream music: Spotify | Apple Music | Soundcloud
Purchase: Amazon Music
Views: 96
